Louisville Falls at Arkansas for First Loss of Season

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Louisville men's basketball program's undefeated start to the year has finally come to an end.

Squaring off with Arkansas in their first true road game of the season, the Cardinals could not come out of Bud Walton Arena with a win over the Razorbacks in the ranked ACC/SEC Challenge showdown, instead getting dealt an 89-80 defeat on Wednesday.

No. 6 Louisville (7-1, 0-0 ACC) was previously off to their longest undefeated start to a season since 2019-20, when they won their first nine. Adding insult to injury, the loss came against former Kentucky head coach John Calipari and previous UofL head coach Kenny Payne, who are the head and associate head coaches for No. 25 Arkansas (6-2, 0-0 SEC).

Normally one of the most efficient offenses in college basketball, Louisville looked largely disjointed on that end of the floor. They connected on only 41.4 percent of their field goal attempts, were just 8-of-37 on three-point tries, and turned it over nine times for 14 Arkansas points the other way.

Defensively, the Cardinals were mauled down low. While they allowed the Razorbacks to shoot just 41.8 percent and 6-of-18 on threes, they also gave up 46 rebounds to their hosts (while only hauling in 36 themselves) - including 18 offensive boards for 27 second-chance points. Arkansas also took full advantage of the charity stripe, going 27-of-35 on free throws, while Louisville was just 14-of-18.

Mikel Brown Jr. led Louisville in scoring with 22 points and Ryan Conwell added 15, but it came on a combined 11-of-35 shooting and 5-of-25 on threes. Sananda Fru had 14 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while Isaac McKneely finished with 11 points. Arkansas had five players crack double figures in scoring, led by 21 points from Trevon Brazile.

From the jump, Louisville seemed to struggle with Arkansas' length and athleticism, and even seemed to be rattled a bit. The Razorbacks scored the first six points of the game, and thanks to 14 points from Brazile in the first eight minutes, took a 23-17 lead over the first nine-plus minutes.

Then came an extended segment where momentum swung in the complete opposite direction.

After opening the game shooting 7-of-15, the Cardinals then hit just two of their next 13 attempts, and just five of their remaining 21 tries in the half. This allowed the Razorbacks to go on an 18-5 run, leading by as much as 19 with 3:47 left in the period.

While Louisville was able to halt this shift in momentum in the final segment, they weren't able to seize it entirely. Between their own offensive woes, and allowing Arkansas to shoot 14-of-31 in the period plus taking 13 more free throws, they went into halftime trailing 47-29.

The Razorbacks extended their lead to as much as 20 in the early minutes of the second half, but then the Cardinals threatened to come all the way back.

Louisville was finally able to get into a bit of an offensive rhythm, using a 22-8 run to Arkansas' lead to just six with 10:51 to go. In fact, following their ice cold shooting first half, they went on to shoot 17-of-34 after halftime.

The only issue was that, after playing somewhat well on the defensive end to start the game, the Cardinals' efforts on that end of the floor. The Razorbacks went 14-for-33 in the second half, and because of this, UofL's deficit could only get as little as five points.

Next up, Louisville will play in another neutral court matchup, taking on Indiana in Indianapolis. Tip-off against the Hoosiers from Gainbridge Fieldhouse is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 6 at 2:15 p.m. EST.

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